Friday's Internet Edition, May 09, 2008.
Last-Minute Plea Arrangement Upsets Family Of The Victim
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| The victim’s uncle, Leon Jones, and her sister, Lola Jones Baker, comfort each other after the hearing. - Photos by Robin Snow |
She was a fun-loving, happy person who loved to make people laugh - especially kids, said her sister, Theresa.
Members of Jones’ family weren’t laughing when they left the Davie County courthouse last week, upset that the man who murdered their loved one was offered a plea to second degree murder.
The last-minute plea arrangement angered the family, although they are happy he will spend at least the next 20 years in prison for the crime.
“It’s the way they treated us,” Theresa said. “The DA tells you something one day, and then you come in here and they tell you something else. It’s like they disowned us. They had already made their decision.”
Leroy Tilley Jr., 27, of 565 Pudding Ridge Road, was sentenced to 21-26 years in prison by Judge Jack Klass. He was charged on April 1 in the strangulation death of his girlfriend, Thomasina Jones ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.